Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

By DR. ANGELA D. PRINGLE
Superintendent,
Richmond County School System
The old saying states, “Home
is where the heart is,” and
the heart of the Richmond
County School System is
located prominently at the junction
of James Brown Boulevard and Broad
Street in downtown Augusta.
The Central Office is the hub of
the school system, but in the very
important urban core, the main
office has plenty of company.
In 2005, under the leadership of
board president Jeff Padgett and
superintendent Dr. Charles Larke,
a decision was made to relocate the
Central Office from Heckle Street
in the Harrisburg community to its
current site; using funds from the
Education Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax, or ESPLOST – a
one-cent tax added to every retail
purchase in the county – the board
renovated an existing building and
completed the move for $15.3 million.
As one of the largest employers
in downtown Augusta, the board
office has played an important role
in ongoing revitalization of Broad
Street – our employees take advantage
of the abundance of great
restaurants and businesses and contribute
to the downtown economy
every day.
Several of the highest performing
schools in the state and nation
are also thriving in this urban core.
Compared to other schools across
the state, the John S. Davidson Fine
Arts Magnet
School outperforms its counterparts
in almost every ranking. This
year, among magnet schools, U.S.
News and World Report ranked
Davidson No. 1 for the Augusta
metro area, No. 3 for Georgia and
The Richmond County
Board of Education moved
its district headquarters
to Broad Street more than
a decade ago. [FILE/THE
AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
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